Santa Wears Shorts But Cartoon Still Tells Lively Christmas Story

Made in DeLand

DELAND — A weasel and a bear have grabbed Santa's magic book to hold for a toy ransom.

The action unfolds in Florida - so naturally there's an alligator in the story. And, of course, Santa plays the part clad in flip-flops and bermuda shorts.

It's a holiday story that isn't as familiar to folks as, say, The Grinch That Stole Christmas.

But animated film producer Don Hill, a DeLand resident for 10 years, hopes to see Coots and Critter and Santa's Magic Book become well-known.

Hill is busy promoting the 48-minute animation, made mostly in Central Florida. It's on videotape, available for $4.99 at Video News stores throughout Central Florida and is scheduled to be aired Dec. 15 on WRBW-Channel 65.

The film is being distributed and syndicated worldwide.

Hill said it took a year for about 30 people, including animators and narrators, to make the movie. Investors, mostly from DeLand, backed the film.

The G-rated Christmas flick, geared for pre-schoolers to first-graders, features an assortment of animal characters trading snappy dialogue. The plot centers on Santa's magic book of Christmas stories.

Coots, an alligator, is cleaning his chimney the day after Christmas when Santa's book tumbles down. Coots seeks counsel from the Critters, a family of raccoons, on how to get the book back to its owner.

Before the owner is located, Greasy Weasel and Balmy Bear snatch the book while Coots and the Critters are swimming in a lake. Then, Santa enters the picture and . . .

''I'm not a prude, but I feel a need for G-rated products,'' Hill, 57, said of his chosen pursuit. ''I love the entertainment world.''

Hill said his inspiration to produce films was late box office giant John Wayne.

''I was making a documentary on the making of the movie, The Green Berets, which starred Wayne and was made in 1967,'' Hill recalled. ''John Wayne was one of the finest men you'd ever want to meet.''

Hill also had a brush with modern-day Hollywood when he did a cameo in the Tom Cruise race car movie, Days of Thunder a few years ago.

''They really cut my part back. I played a photographer,'' Hill said.

In 1974, Hill produced a film called Throw Out the Anchor that starred Dina Merrill and Richard Egan.

Then a Los Angeles resident, Hill produced and directed several television projects. In 1984, he sold his L.A. office and bought a restaurant, which he later sold to his son.

Coots and Critter and Santa's Magic Book is Hill's return to filmmaking. He originally created the Coots and Critter characters for a CBS show, but it wasn't picked up.

''I had a friend who had a pet raccoon and that's how I came up with the Critter family,'' Hill explained.

Already, Hill is working on his next project while promoting the current one.

Tales of Waterville is another animated film to be made in Central Florida. He hopes for a 1997 television showing.